Into the Pensieve
by Cattiechaos
Summary: When Lily's old schoolmate shows up at the Potters' doorstep, Harry is given the chance to look at the lives of the Marauders through the memories of other Hogwarts students.
1. The Pensieve

_Author's Note: My comeback piece! It's been almost a year since I've written something for this site, and I'm pleased to say I've made my comeback with this Harry Potter piece. Be gentle, but definetly honest, and constructive criticism/suggestions encouraged as always! :D_

Flurries of snow whipped through the air, the first snowfall of December.

A lone figure traipsed through the ankle-deep snow, a scarf shielding her face from the harsh wind. She carried a heavy burden, her arms wrapped all the way around the giant stone basin she carried. Struggling, her face was pink by the time she reached #12 in Godric's Hollow. A festive wreath hung on the knob, adorned with miniature ice faeries.

She knocked.

There was a shriek from inside. "MUM! DAD! THEY'RE HERE!" a high-pitched, little girl's voice squealed.

"But that can't be then, McGonagall said they were coming by Floo!" a male voice called.

The door to #12 opened to reveal a pretty young woman with startlingly thick red hair. "Albus! J—" The greeting died in her mouth as her brown eyes surveyed the woman in front of her, looking puzzled.

Ginny's eyes were autmoatically drawn to the giant basin in the woman's arms. It appeared to be a birdbath of sorts, though instead of water, the innards were swirling with thick masses of silver. She turned her attention to the woman herself, who looked to be in her 50's or even her 60's. Her hair was nutmeg brown, but streaks of gray were mixed in, and her eyes were pale blue and tired-looking.

"Ginny? Is that them?" a voice called from inside the house, whose warmth was wafting out into the cold, carrying the scent of gingerbread. A male figure appeared next to the red-haired woman, and Mary Macdonald was stunned. The resemblance…it was uncanny.

"Harry Potter?" she croaked, her eyes suddenly gleaming with emotion.

"Yeah, that's me," Harry said curiously, the puzzlement in his face matched only by his wife's.

"Lily," the figure sighed, and she suddenly looked very, very sad. "You have Lily's eyes. Exactly her eyes. And you look so like James, Harry, so very much like him. You have his hair," she added, her lips quirking up into a smile. "He was always messing up his hair, giving it the 'windswept' look as he said..."

Harry, who had heard this spiel a hundred times already, wasn't very surprised. He was, however, surprised to have this woman mention his long-dead parents.

"You knew my parents?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes," the woman replied, shifting the basin to the other side of her hip. The movement was not missed by Ginny's sharp eyes, and she said: "Please, come in. It's cold, and that must be heavy."

"Yeah, come in," Harry added, his head whirling. It had been so long since he had talked about his parents…not since the Hallow had brought them back, ghostly apparitions that were not quite smoke and not quite solid...

"JAMES! ALBUS!" a girl shrieked, and Lily Potter she came pelting out into the living room, her bright green eyes ablaze. She stopped short, abashed, in front of the old woman. "Who're you?" she asked bluntly.

"Lily, manners," Ginny chided. "This woman...is a friend of your father's."

"Lily," the old woman mused, looking short of heartbroken as she took in Lily Potter the second. "You look so much like Lily," she murmured, obviously talking about the first Lily, Lily Evans. She shook her head as if trying to bring herself back to the present.

"Of course I look like Lily, I _am _Lily, silly!" the little girl laughed.

"Lily, go to your room," Ginny said quickly, nudging her daughter.

"But mum, James and Albus'll be here any moment!" Lily protested.

"Lily, go to your room," Ginny repeated sharply, and the redhead did so, protesting and grumbling all the way, stomping up the stairs.

"Now," Harry said quietly, looking at the woman in awe, "who're? How d'you know my parents?" He sat down, his eyes gazing at the stone basin. He knew immediately what it was; he had seen it so many times in his sixth year, when Dumbledore had been giving him private lessons.

The woman sat down opposite him, with a heavy sigh. Ginny took the seat beside Harry. "My name is Mary Macdonald," the woman began quietly. "I went to school with your parents, Harry. I...I was Lily's best friend."

Ginny inhaled sharply, but Harry was listening more intently than ever.

"Your mother was very popular at Hogwarts, Harry," Mary continued, looking very tired in the light from the fireplace. "She had many friends. Everyone had memories of the beautiful red-haired girl who was smart, kind, and considerate. So we decided to give you this." At this point, she gestured to the basin that she had placed by her side; it was swirling with a thick, silver mass and giving off an eerie glow.

"What is that?" Ginny whispered.

Harry answered for her. "It's a Pensieve," he said hoarsely. "People can put their memories inside of one and examine them later." He could remember Dumbledore telling him about the Pensieve so clearly, he could pretend it was just yesterday he was in fourth year, and had stumbled upon Dumbledore's own Pensieve.

Mary was nodding. "Exactly," she agreed. "I sent owls off to everyone who knew your parents at school, and we pooled together our memories into this Pensieve. Most of these memories come from your parents' schoolmates and their teachers."

Harry felt himself growing excited now, felt his heart thudding in his chest. Only twice had he seen his parents in the Pensieve before, and both times were in Severus Snape's memories, which didnt' exactly view them in a pleasant light. "Why are you giving this to me?" he asked suddenly.

Mary looked puzzled. "Why? Because there was a terrible price to pay in becoming the Boy Who Lived. You lost your parents, Harry, and you have no memories of them except the horrible event in which they died. I thought you should have more than that; you should know what kind of people they were, and you deserved more than stories. You deserved to see the memories firsthand; just how kind and beautiful Lily was on the inside and the outside, and just how talented James was, both on and off the Quidditch field. Your parents were wonderful people Harry, and it's a shame you never got to know that."

Harry felt a hard lump rise in his throat, felt Ginny's warm hand on his arm, her sympathetic expression. "Thank you," he said hoarsely, almost as if in a daze. He gave himself a little shake. "Thank you, Mary," he repeated, more firmly. "You'll stay for dinner?"

The old witch smiled. "No thank you, Harry," she said kindly, "it appears as though your boys will be coming home any minute now. I don't want to intrude."

"It's no intrusion," Ginny said quickly, "the boys will be delighted to meet you. They love to hear stories about their grandparents, they'll be fascinated. Do stay," she said appealingly, smiling in such a warm way that Mary could hardly refuse.

Suddenly, the fire flared, glowing brightly, the flames suddenly green.

"MUM! DAD! WE'RE HOME!" James bellowed, falling out of the fireplace and scattering soot everywhere.

"James, they know, they're not blind!" Albus retorted, appearing in a flurry behind James, tottering with vertigo.

"James!" Ginny scolded, jumping to her feet and slapping the soot from his robes. "Honestly James, can't you come home without ruining the carpet? _Scourgify!_" she exclaimed, pointing at the soot with her wand.

"James! Albus!" Lily screamed, flying down the stairs and cannoning into her brothers.

"Oomph!" Albus grunted, knocked flat on his back. "Hullo, Lily –"

"Dad, whose this?" James asked curiously, looking at Mary. He was trying (in vain) to resist Ginny's attempts to get the soot off of his robes. "I've never – OUCH – seen her before in the – OUCH – house – _that was my nose, Mum!"_

Harry grinned from ear-to-ear, embracing his youngest son. "Had a nice term, Albus?" he greeted, his eyes running up the black-haired boy as if making sure there were no missing limbs.

"Yeah dad, it was fantastic!" Albus exclaimed, and Harry saw the flush of excitement in Albus' eyes. "I made a friend – his name's –"

"POTATOES!" James howled, fighting free of his little sister and his mother, his eyes falling on the bowl of steaming mashed potatoes. "Great, Mum, I'm _starved_…!"

"—Scorpius Malfoy!" Albus bellowed.

The five syllables effectively silenced the entire household.

"Aah, what a way to break it to them, Al," James said contritely, shaking his head.

"Scorpius Malfoy?" Mary repeated, and her voice was full of disgust. "That's not Lucius Malfoy's grandson, is it?"

"You know Lucius Malfoy?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Mary snorted, "he was a few years above Lily and I at Hogwarts. He was made prefect in fifth year, the stupid git, he was always trying to order everyone around."

"You knew Gram and Gramps at Hogwarts?" James yelped, potatoes instantly forgotten.

"Boys, boys, boys!" Ginny exclaimed, looking amused and pained at the same time. "We have a _guest!_"

"We can see that, Mum," James snorted.

"Manners, James," Ginny retorted, frowning. "Lily, James, Albus – this is Mary Macdonald. She went to school with Harry's parents."

A simultaneous three voices exclaimed: "Cool!"

Ginny laughed. "Right, so we're going to have dinner now. Wash up, you three!"

"AWW, MUM!" James exclaimed, "Mary's going to tell us about dad's parents!"

"It's Mrs. Macdonald to you," Ginny replied sternly, "and go wash up!"

"Oh, there's no need," Mary replied.

"See, there's no need to _wash_!" James said triumphantly.

"Er, no, I meant there's no need to call me Mrs. Macdonald, but you probably have to wash," Mary laughed.

"Damn!"

"Language!"

While this was going on, Harry was thinking, his brow furrowed. He found himself glancing constantly at the Pensieve, and knew there was no way he was going to make it through dinner without being utterly distracted. Memories of his parents...he could see them again...not the odd, ghostlike mist he had seen come out of Voldemort's wand, and not the insubstansial figures the Hallow had brought back; real, flesh-and-blood memories.

Ginny caught his expression. "Oh, Harry!" she sighed. "Go and look at it now if you must. Honestly, you're like a little child with a new toy!"

"No, it's the boys' first night back," Harry protested, obviously resenting being called a child.

"We both know you're not going to pay attention to anything said at the dinnertable," Ginny said, with a small smile. "Go upstairs and look at the Pensieve. I promise I'll call for you if James sets the table on fire…again. That boy is a pyromaniac, I swear..."

Harry grinned broadly, getting up to kiss his wife on the cheek. "Thanks Ginny," he said, hoisting the Pensieve up to rest against his hip. "Thanks for dropping by, Mary," he called over his shoulder, starting up the stairs.

As her husband disappeared upstairs, Ginny shook her head and gave an indulgent smile.

Mary found herself smiling as well. "That's one lucky boy," she chuckled, tightening the scarf around her neck.

Ginny looked at the older woman, her eyes bright, and remembered how she had lost Harry after her 5th year. "Nah," she said, "it was me who got lucky."

.:x:.

Harry set the Pensieve on the dresser, looking into its swirly contents with his heart beating hard in his chest. He was going to see his parents. He was going to see Sirius and Remus. Jumpy with excitement, he put his whole face into the Pensieve, holding his breath.

There was the familiar tumultuous sensation as he went flying into another world – another memory – and then it righted. He straightened, regaining his balance; he had gotten used to seeing things via Pensieve after the amount of times he and Dumbledore had used it.

The Hogwarts grounds was just as inviting and immaculate as Harry remembered them, absolutely unaltered. The Hogwarts of his parents' time, his time, and his sons' time seemed to be all the same: it seemed as though Hogwarts castle was the very testament to the fact that time could not wear down everything. Not a blade of grass was out of place, and he could swear that he, Hermione, and Ron were about to come out of the castle and flop down under their favorite beech tree by the lake.

Glancing around, he searched for the familiar faces. He wondered whose memory he was in; could it possibly be the Herbology teacher's? She was a long, wiry woman with a mass of brown hair that was clipped short, about as different from stout, curly-haired Professor Sprout as you could get. She was in Greenhouse 4, pruning an odd, tentacled plant that Harry recognized as the Venemous Tentacula.

Suddenly, two figures came flying out of the castle, running as if for dear life, though laughing and almost falling over themselves in mirth. From this far away, he could only see vague characteristics; one boy had glasses and a mess of ruffled hair; the other was clutching a book and had a very mischievous expression on his face. Panting after them came a short, stout boy, his face very mousy and his eyes very anxious. He was obviously afraid of being left behind.

Harry's stomach lurched as he realized this was the Marauders; James, Sirius, and Peter. But where was Remus? Harry edged away from the greenhouse and as close to those familiar figures as he could. No sooner had the boys (Sirius and James, he could tell it was them now) pelted away, when...

"_OY!"_

A bellow shattered the peace of the day, causing several students to look up from their textbooks and conversations with alarm. Remus John Lupin came pelting into the grounds, robes flapping out behind him and an expression of utter frustration on his face. "_OY! YOU BLOODY GITS GET BACK HERE WITH MY BOOK!"_

"Oy Prongsie, he's gaining on us!" Sirius yelped, a very doggish grin on his face.

"Shall we give him the slip, then?" James panted, his grin matching Sirius'. "Quick mate, up this tree!"

Sirius had just vanished up the beech when Remus skidded to a halt below, panting and glaring in all directions. "Come _back _here," Remus glowered, "with my _book!"_

"YARR!" came a sudden screech from above.

"What the – " Remus gaped, looking about, and then… "ARRGH!"

Sirius flew out of the tree, cannoning down into Remus and utterly driving the breath from the poor boy.

"DOGPILE!" James roared, throwing himself out of the tree and landing on top of the two wrestling figures, leaving Remus utterly squashed underneath the weight of two boys.

Chaos ensued.

"Oww, Prongsie!" Sirius howled, beating his fist frantically against James' leg. "Gerroff me you stupid _git! _Since when were you this heavy?!"

"I'm muscling up for Quidditch," James grinned, sitting smugly atop his friends.

Sirius wriggled, gasping for breath, then resigned himself to his fate. "Oy, Peter, come on, have a seat – there's plenty of room for you! Here, the Spot of Honor!" he called, merrily spanking Remus, as James howled with laughter.

"SIRIUS! Sleep with one eye open!" Remus bellowed in vain.

"I'm scared now," the gray-eyed boy laughed, his eyes flashing mischievously.

"Err, you should be, mate," James replied apprehensively.

"Yeah, remember the time Remus turned your hair turquoise after you threw his book out the window?" Peter cringed, indeed sitting atop the "spot of honor" – Remus' ass.

"Oh yeah!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning at the memory. "S'allright, turned out turquoise was Alicia Goldstone's favorite color, it turned her on – AAUGH!"

Something exploded out from underneath him, and Sirius, Peter, and James found themselves flying into the air amidst charred strips of black cloth and a few tattered pages from a burnt book.

"Merlin's beard!" James yelped, landing perilously near a rhododendron bush. "What're you playing at, Moony? Was that the _Reductor Charm?!"_

"Hell no, we're still alive, aren't we?" Sirius winced, hobbling to his feet. "Moony, that was cold, we're just trying to get you to lighten up!"

Remus gave a little sigh, the last of his anger draining out with it. There was no staying mad at a sulky James and Sirius, the two were more than a match against him. "We have a _Herbology final _in five minutes," Remus groaned, sounding a little desperate. "Won't you at least _try _and study?" He brandished the book in front of James and Sirius, knowing full well they were probably going to get full marks anyways. How those two were so smart without ever cracking open a book was beyond him.

Sirius rolled his eyes carelessly. "I don't need to read that rubbish, I know it all."

"All right, what's this one called, then?" Remus prompted, pointing to a picture of gillyweed.

Sirius took one look and snorted. "Looks like bloody cow bollocks t'me."

James roared with laughter.

"Bloody cow bollocks, I'll give you bloody cow bollocks," Remus growled.

"Bloody cow _what_?"

Harry's stomach gave a pleasant jolt of excitement as his eyes found the voice's owner, a green-eyed, auburn-haired girl.

"Evans!" James exclaimed, leaning casually against the tree and ruffling his already-windswept hair.

"Sod off Potter," the redhead growled, and Sirius barked with laughter.

"Aw, Lils, you abuse our boy," Sirius laughed, smacking Lily lightly on the shoulder.

"Ouch!" Lily scowled, smacking Sirius back.

"That wasn't even that hard," Sirius whined. "Ouch!" he bellowed, as James smacked the back of his head. "What was that for, Prongs?!"

"Don't hit my girlfriend, Paddy!"

"I am _not _your girlfriend, Potter!"

"OUCH! Why'd you smack me, Evans?!"

"Because you're a great arrogant _git_, Potter!"

"Ouch! Padfoot! What was that for?!"

"You smacked me, Prongs!"

"You smacked Lily!"

"OUCH! _Why is everyone hitting Padfoot today_?" Sirius whimpered, putting on his pitiful face. "I just want somebody to love!" he protested.

"Merlin's beard," Remus sighed. "Lily, why'd you come over here?"

"I'm starting to wonder that myself," Lily scowled, crossing her arms.

"It's okay Evans, there's no need to lie about coming over here to ask out a godly, handsome person with amazing hair," James said earnestly.

"But that means she came over here to ask _me_ out," Sirius pointed out.

"Oh, will you two _shut up_?" Lily cried exasperatedly. "I came over here to see, er, Peter."

"Peter?!" James squawked.

"Peter?!" Sirius gaped.

"Peter?!" Peter squeaked.

"Yes," said Lily coldly, turning her attention to aforementioned Marauder. "Hello, Peter!" she said brightly, her eyes telling him to play along.

"Hello," Peter squeaked, cowering under James' glare.

"Oh Evans, just admit you came here to see me," James said modestly.

"Fine," Lily said coolly, her eyes flashing. "I came over here to see you, Potter. To tell you what an _arrogant, moronic git you are!" _And smacking James hard, she stormed off.

"Aah," Sirius shrugged sympathetically. "Bad luck, mate."

"Yeah," James said, looking slightly crestfallen.

"Aw," Sirius cried, "we'll always love our Prongsiepoo, even if Lils doesn't!"

"Buggar off," James growled, but a hint of a smile tugged up his mouth.

"Blimey! We have our Herbology exam in three minutes!" Sirius yelped suddenly, glancing at the huge clock tower. "Moony, didja know?!"

"Yes – I, unlike you, carry a watch and check it," Remus said dryly.

" Then why didn't you tell us?!" James exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and dusting off his frayed robes. "Blimey Moony, what'dja hit the robes with? They're ruined for sure, Mum's going to kill me…"

And suddenly, the world soared around Harry; he felt the familiar jerking sensation…

…when he next opened his eyes, he was in the familiar dim room - his and Ginny's bedroom. He found himself grinning broadly, not able to stop, although his face was beginning to hurt. Even Lily's coldness toward his father could be found laughable, seeing as they got together in the end anyways. He wondered if anyone had a memory of Lily finally agreeing to go out with James, it would have been worth watching.

There was a gentle knock on the door. "Harry?" Ginny peeped inside, her bright brown eyes glowing in the gloom. She had a tentative smile on her face. "Is everything all right?"

Still grinning broadly, Harry wrapped her in his arms and planted a big kiss on her lips. "Never been better."

And with the memory of James, Sirius, and Remus fresh in his mind, he headed downstairs for dinner with his family.

_End Note: There's a debate between making this a continued story and keeping this as a one-shot; let me know what you want this to be in your review! (Now I tricked you into reviewing, HA! Okay, probably shouldn't have told you that xD) Hope you enjoyed the story!_


	2. Of Christmas and Wonderbras

**Author's Note: Sorry this took a while! School started recently, but good news! I'll be writing this story during my extremely boring Spanish class, and I have most of the chapters planned out, so updates should be faster! :D **

Chapter 2: Of Christmas and Wonderbras

"It's SNOWING!" James bellowed, tearing through the house and promptly slamming into a door. "Mum, mum, it's SNOWING!" he bellowed, arms flailing and eyes wild.

"James, give it a rest!" Ginny exclaimed. "It's not like you've never seen snow before!"

"Snow angels!" Lily shrieked delightedly, pulling on her coat.

"Snowball fights!" James corrected, yanking his right foot into his left shoe.

"Don't destroy the lawn," Harry said firmly from behind his newspaper – he was used to James' manic bursts of energy.

"Just say no to destroying the lawn – got it!" James exclaimed enthusiastically, already out the door, with Lily and Albus trailing behind.

Ginny grinned fondly after her children, looking quite pretty with her auburn hair framing her face and a flowered apron donned over her clothes. "It's been such a long time since I've been in a snowball fight," she smiled reminiscently, "it reminds me of Hogwarts." But then, her smile faded a little, because the ringleader in these snowball fights had always been Fred.

"Why don't we go with them?" Harry suggested, folding up _The Quibbler_. "Just to make sure they don't burn the place down – maybe throw a few snowballs?"

The flowered apron was unceremoniously ripped off and thrown into a corner, and the two were out the door.

"Dad, dad, look who's here!" James bellowed, his entire head already caked with white frost. He was pointing excitedly to a family of four huddled in front of #12 Godric's Hollow, broad grins on their pale, cold faces.

"Hermione, Ron!" Ginny squealed, racing towards them, as James was already throwing snow over Rose's head.

"Harry!" Ron bellowed, and grinning broadly, smacked him over the head. "Oi, how've you been doing mate?"

Harry took in his old childhood friend, still so gangly and redheaded, and returned the blow. "Good enough, you?"

"Spanking good!" Ron bellowed, as Hermione threw her arms around Harry, her bushy hair windswept. "Harry!" she exclaimed, smiling. "Sorry we dropped by unexpected, but we haven't seen you in so long –"

"OI, WATCH IT!"

Harry glanced up to see a snowball flying alarmingly towards him, and ducked with the reflexes of a Quidditch player, feeling the snow whistle over his head.

"Who threw that?" Hermione exclaimed, but her mouth quirked into a smile as the snowball hit the back of Ron's head, where it connected with a dull _thunk_.

"Ouch!" bellowed Ron, looking around furiously. "Oi, I'll kill you, you stupid bloody bast—"

"RON!" Hermione shrieked, as James and Rose howled with laughter. Before long, they were involved in a full-fledged snowball war.

Harry grinned as a snowball hurled from Ron pelted towards him; at the last second, he whipped out his wand and bellowed: "_Impedimenta!_"

The snowball stopped an inch from his face.

"Not fair!" Rose cried, "we can't use magic!"

"Who said you couldn't?" Ron exclaimed, grinning furiously. "Show us what you've got!"

As Lily's snowball flew towards James, the boy bellowed: "IMPEDIMENTA!"

It promptly exploded.

"Er," Harry said awkwardly. He caught Ron's eye.

Before long, they were howling with laughter.

"How the bloody – " Ron choked, doubled over with laughter.

"Oh Ron, don't tease!" Hermione scolded, as even Albus and Hugo started to roll on the floor clutching their sides.

"All right, all right," James scowled, though even his mouth was quirked in a suppressed smile. "It's not _that _funny!"

"Yes it is!" Lily squealed, merry peals of laughter trilling through the air.

"I'm going to quit while I'm ahead," Harry grinned, brushing the snow off his shoulder, "I'm going to head upstairs to look into the Pensieve, okay Gin?"

"What Pensieve?" Hermione asked curiously, stowing her wand.

Quickly, Harry relayed the story of the Pensieve to his friends.

"Ooh!" Hermione exclaimed enthusiastically. "But that means Teddy can see his dad!"

"I – er – what?" Harry asked, flabbergasted.

"These memories _have _to contain Remus!" Hermione said impatiently. "He was your dad's best friend!"

"No he wasn't, Sirius was," Harry corrected quietly.

"Whatever," Ginny shrugged. "He'll still be in them, right? You can send it to Teddy! He has no memories of his father, the poor dear."

"Hang on!" Ron protested. "Harry's only had it for – what, a few days? Let him have it for a bit, will you?"

Harry felt a rush of gratitude for his best mate. "Yeah, it's only been a few days, Hermione," he couldn't help saying.

"Oh, I guess," Hermione said disappointedly. "But Teddy _will _get it, right?"

"Of course," Harry said hastily.

"Speaking of Lupin, mate, I'd love to see him and Sirius again – and your dad," Ron mused enviously.

"Come with me," Harry said suddenly.

"You can do that?" Ron yelped, surprised.

"Yeah, yeah," he said quickly, "Hermione, Ginny - ?"

"We'll stay here," Ginny said quickly, "no need for you to return to a ruined house and a burning yard."

Harry and Ron exchanged glances and grinned.

.:x:.

"Blimey, look at that," Ron said in an undertone, his voice hushed with awe. "Look at all that swirly mass…what the bloody hell is that?"

"Dunno," Harry shrugged, "the memories, I guess."

"See you on the other side," Harry grinned, face illuminated from the light of the Pensieve, before he plunged in it. There was that glorious falling sensation…

"GAWWWD BLESS YEEEEEE MERRY HIPPOGRIFFS," a voice bellowed raucously, making everyone within a ten-mile distance wince.

Harry and Ron found themselves standing in the Gryffindor common room, exactly the same as it was during their own time. There were the same armchairs, the very same fireplace, the exact same _books _on the history of Gryffindor…

"Great Merlin," Ron said, in a voice that was strangled and amused at the same time.

Sirius…was standing on a table. A gold and scarlet tie was wrapped around his head, and he was wearing scarlet boxers. _Only _scarlet boxers.

His godfather was as handsome as usual, his dark hair casually framing a noble, aristocratic face, though the gray eyes were currently glimmering with mischief.

"Black! What the ruddy hell is going on?" shouted a disgruntled-looking boy, glaring at the young heir. "People're trying to study here!"

"Oh, sod off," Sirius snorted carelessly, "it's Christmas! Where's your Christmas spirit?"

"Christmas spirit?!" the boy squawked. "It's _May_!"

"By order of the Marauders' decree, Christmas is now in May _and _December!" a new voice declared, and James Potter leapt atop the table beside his best mate, a giant gold-and-scarlet Gryffindor banner draped around his shoulders like a cape. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merlin's beard," a girl snorted, returning to her books. The Gryffindors were obviously used to the insanity of the chaos that was James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Here's your present, mate," Sirius exclaimed extravagantly, conjuring a brightly wrapped package out of the air. "Merry Christmas!"

"Padfoot!" James exclaimed, mock-tearing, clasping his hands. "Bless ye, ye bloody wanker!" And with that, he tore up the package with a bloody vengeance, wrapping paper and ribbons flying through the air.

"Blimey, what the…"

James gaped, stunned. In his hands, he was holding…

A bright red, Double-D Wonderbra.

"What's going on in here?" a new voice exclaimed, as a pretty, red-haired girl strode into the Gryffindor common room, looking quite peeved. "Alicia told me someone disturbing – James Potter!"

Lily's bright green eyes narrowed, zoning in on the boy with the bra in hand. It was clear she was in predator mode, and she had never looked quite so dangerous before.

"Lily!" James protested. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Oh?" she said calmly, her voice icy. "Then what is it?"

"This bra – isn't mine –" James sputtered.

"Well I should hope not," Lily said scathingly. "Don't tell me you stole someone's bra on a dare! That's low James, even for you!"

"I didn't – it's not – stolen!" James explained in vain. "_Padfoot_, do something!"

"I've never seen that thing before in my life!" Sirius protested, his gray eyes innocent.

James yelped. "Lily!"

But the fifth year had already stalked out of the common room, her dark red hair flying out from behind her.

Sirius raised his hands. "Prongs –" he began weakly.

"Run," Remus advised, not glancing up from his Charms book.

Sirius obeyed.

"_PADFOOT!_"

.:x:.

"Way to go Padfoot, she's not talking to me anymore!" James exclaimed, looking deeply crestfallen as he sank into one of the armchairs in the common room.

Sirius glanced up from his chess game, put on his 'deeply wounded' expression. "It wasn't my fault, mate!" he protested.

"Did you _tell _her you didn't steal the…bra?" Remus asked tentatively, as his chess bishop began to take out his anger issues on Sirius' queen.

"Yes!" James exclaimed indignantly. "She wouldn't believe me! Come on, steal a girls' bra? Would _I _do something like that?"

Remus decided to not voice his opinion on that one.

"Well, yeah, you would," Peter piped helpfully, and received a cuff on the back of his head for the effort.

"Now she'll _never _go out with me," he said, looking like a dejected puppy.

"The chances that she would go out with you weren't very big to begin with mate," Sirius couldn't help quipping, as his knight began to join the mob of violence.

"That's not the point," James said sternly, "there were _chances_, and I swear she was warming up to me…"

And he spent the rest of the night moping in a sulky silence.

.:x:.

"JAMES! James POTTER, are you STUPID?"

A jarring voice crashed through his fantasies of Lily Evans, the mental image of sunlight falling on her head so a perfect halo of amber seemed to waft around her…

"Huh whut?" he said dazedly, realizing that he had been floating in midair on the Quidditch Pitch as the Snitch whizzed around his head as if mocking him.

One of his chaser, Robins, was glaring at him with an expression of utter irritation on her face. "For Merlin's sake, Potter, just _apologize to Lily! _You've been zoning out this entire practice! Are you Captain or what?"

James gaped in indignation. "Why would I _apologize_?" he bellowed. "_I didn't steal that bra! It's mine!"_

Everyone paused.

"Er, that came out wrong," James said weakly. "But the point is, I shouldn't have to apologize! I didn't do _anything!_"

"Hmph," Robins sniffed, flipping her hair. "_Boys_."

"Boys?!" James bellowed, flapping his arms in frustration. "_GIRLS!_"

.:x:.

"Prongs, stop bloody moping and give me that dragon heart."

James stirred, raising his head off of his desk. "I'm sleeping," he mumbled, head flopping back down on the table.

"What about your potion?" Remus sighed, reading _Advanced Potion Making _and swirling a turquoise concoction at the same time.

"Who cares?" James said spectacularly, raising his hands to the heavens (or the ceiling of the dungeons). "Life isn't worth living without my Lilyflower!"

Sirius made a retching noise (in all fairness, it could've been because Peter's potion was beginning to smell like dragon dung) and shoved the dragon heart into his best mate's face. "Don't be dramatic. C'mon, mate, Lily rejects you on a day to day basis; it's not the end of the world!"

"Enough talking over there!" Professor Rueben snapped, her blue eyes flickering to the Marauders. James resumed his sleep, sighing dramatically.

"All right, that's it," Sirius whispered to Remus, casually tossing the heart into James' cauldron. "It's time for drastic measures!"

"What are you doing?" Remus hissed, looking quite alarmed.

"Intervention," Sirius murmured back, and he refused to do anything else for the rest of the lesson, except to sit there with a very grim, determined look on his face.

.:x:.

Sirius Black was well aware that the staircase to the girls' dormitory would turn into a slide if anyone but a girl would attempt the climb. How did he know this? Well, simply stated, he was Sirius Black, and he had chased after more than one girl up those stairs.

"Hmm," he mused to himself, the same blazing light in his gray eyes.

"What are you thinking?" Remus asked suspiciously, eyeing his friend with some trepidation.

"Hmm," Sirius repeated, looking as if he was thinking very hard. "Maybe you just have to _look _like a girl to get into the girls' dormitory."

Remus shot a wary expression at his fellow Marauder. "Like a wig? Where're you going to get a wig? You can't summon it from a Muggle town, people'll see it!"

"Nah, not a wig," Sirius said thoughtfully, "because then I'd just look like a bloke with really long hair…nah, it has to be something that only girls have."

The poor werewolf was getting all sorts of mental images about things girls had that guys didn't (who knew Remus thought that way?) until Sirius' head snapped up, and he exclaimed: "BY MERLIN'S WIMPY BALLS, I'VE GOT IT!"

.:x:.

It is never particularly desirable to have a boy barge into your dormitory. When that boy is Sirius Black, and he's wearing a very large, very red Wonderbra, it is even more undesirable.

Someone swore.

Someone gasped.

And then, everyone was screaming with laughter.

"I have been scarred for life," Lily said calmly. "I'll tell my therapist to bill you."

"Ladies, please," Sirius said somberly, "I know some of you might not appreciate my new, very sexy look, but it was necessary. But Evans, I need to talk to you."

"Can you take off the bra first?" Lily asked apprehensively, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh, screw the bloody bra," Sirius growled. "If you really must know, Prongs didn't steal that bra from some poor girl. I gave it to him for Christmas."

Lily's eyebrows vanished up into her auburn bangs. "…Christmas? In May?"

"Yes," insisted Sirius doggedly, "it's a Marauder thing, you wouldn't understand."

"You swear?" Lily said suspiciously, "you're not just covering from him?"

"I swear!" Sirius said, sounding very insulted.

"Swear on your looks?" Lily queried, naming the most serious thing she could think of.

Sirius gasped. That was the most serious oath he could make! "I swear," he said firmly.

"All right, if you're sure he didn't raid some girl's closet, then I guess I'll talk to him again," Lily snorted.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius grumbled, "he's been sulking like you wouldn't believe."

He was turning to leave when Lily called: "Sirius?''

The disgruntled Black-heir turned around, looking quite grouchy. "Yes?"

A smile quirked up the corner of Lily's mouth. "That bra looks just dashing on you."

.:x:.

Grumbling, Sirius entered the boys' dormitory, muttering under his breath. Remus could only catch every other word – 'bra' – 'Lily' – 'sulking git'.

Remus glanced up from his textbook – and glanced right back down. Sirius Black in a bright red bra was surely something that would haunt him until his dying day. "So, erm – you worked it out with Lily?" he asked tentatively, resisting the temptation to stare at his fellow Marauder. Perhaps he could forget this sight in 10 years or so, if he was lucky?

"Yes I did," said Sirius dramatically, "Prongs really was making a right old fuss about this. At least he'll stop moping now, the bloody prat."

"Speak of the devil," Remus said dryly, his eyes flickering to James as the boy entered, looking half-amused and half-suspicious.

"Did you _really _sneak into the girls' dormitory?" James asked warily. "And you fooled the staircase by wearing a _bra_?"

Sirius gave a melodramatic sigh. "Prongsiepoo, don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to."

" Did you really?" James said tentatively.

Sirius pulled a face. "Yes I did," he grumbled. "And it was too big for me. Prongs, I –"

But Sirius' tragic apology was muffled as James launched himself at his best mate, strangling him in a tackle of a hug.

"_Prongs!_" Sirius yelped, almost falling over in shock. "I know I'm sinfully good-looking, but I just don't like you that way! And you're my best mate! Don't complicate things – I'm afraid your love for me will have to go unrequited!"

"Shut up, you stupid nancy prat," James grinned, untangling himself from his best friend. "Merlin's balls, I can't believe you did that! Thanks, Padfoot."

"So Lily's talking to you again?" Remus snorted, observing this love fest from his reading nook, a safe distance away from the obviously mentally-unbalanced teens.

"Yep," James said happily.

"Well, she better be," Sirius pouted. "I wore a _bra! _And it was _red! _Those Wonderbras are really good, mate, it makes you look like you have something even when you don't…"

"Are you sure about that?" Remus grinned wolfishly.

Sirius flashed an innocent look at Remus. "Oh Moony, I forgot to give you _your _Christmas present! How _inconsiderate _of me! I'll give it to you right now!"

And with that, Sirius retrieved a very small, very light package from underneath his bed and tossed it to his fellow Marauder. "Merry Christmas, Moony!" he said innocently, smiling angelically.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Remus snorted, tearing off the package. "I swear, Padfoot, if…" And then his voice trailed away, because the present inside rendered him completely speechless.

A leopard print thong.

Ah, don't you love the holidays?

.:x:.

Harry and Ron stared dumbly at each other, their mouths gaping, totally dazed.

Then, they began to roar with laughter, and with their arms swung around each other, they headed down the stairs, laughing merrily all the way.

_**End Note: Thanks for reading, and feedback is always appreciated! Did you think James was too dramatic? Did you see too little of Remus for your liking? Let me know! More to come.**_


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